Page 22 of Monsters in the Dark

However, instead of defending herself, putting me in my place, or attacking me with a speech on women’s lib, she said, “If labeling me a whore will make you feel better about killing me later, then…yeah, sure. I’m a whore, and Kenneth was available.”

Refusing to admit where my anger was coming from, I said, “Imma no’ gonna kill ye. Ye owe me two men, remember?”

“So you keep saying,” she replied uninterested.

I linked my fingers together, then stretched them over my head, anger making my neck hot. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn’t my witness have been someone else? For the first time in my life, I was attracted to a woman that had the power to hold something over me, and I didn’t particularly appreciate the feeling. Yeah, I had her over a barrel with how she had killed Ren and Jacob, but you only really had someone over a barrel when they cared, and it was clear as day that Keavy Collins didn’t care about who I was or the situation that she currently found herself in.

I cocked my head, eyeing her. “I wonder if you’d really be this brave if you weren’t tied to that chair right now.”

This fucking woman said, “Untie me and find out.”

With my eyes raking over her, I said, “Kenneth Swanson was beneath you.”

“I’d been hoping,” she replied flippantly. “But then your men had to barge into his house and ruin my night.”

The image of her riding Kenneth Swanson’s dick bothered me enough to piss me off. If this woman wasn’t afraid to kill, then I could only imagine what she was like in bed, and I’d bet that she was wild enough to drive a man insane with need. She didn’t have one meek bone in her entire person, and my body screamed for her. She probably took dick like the whore that I had accused her of being, and she probably did it while begging for more.

Fuck.

“Still have an itch that needs to be scratched?” I taunted.

Her entire body stilled, and my first instinct was to assure her that none of us were rapists. However, since I was doing my best to figure this woman out, I didn’t say anything. I watched and waited for her response, and the fucking girl didn’t disappoint when she finally replied.

“Come near me without permission, and you’d better have your will in order,” she said, her green eyes darkening. “I will kill you.”

I stepped towards the bars, but Keavy didn’t flinch in the least. “And what does it take to get permission, I wonder.”

“If I were you, I’d stick to women that are more your speed, Mr. O’Brien,” she retorted tartly, but there was something in her voice that warned me that she wasn’t kidding around.

I wrapped my hands around the bars, everything in me pushing to unlock the cage to see what she’d do, but I wasn’t sure if I could control myself if I touched her. Whatever it was about Keavy Collins, it was enough to warp my brain a bit, and I wasn’t too proud to admit that I needed some distance to get my head back on straight. Whatever I’d been expecting when Kenneth had given me her name, this hadn’t been it. As arrogant as it sounded, I’d been expecting someone that was going to cower at my last name like most people did.

Fuck, if I’d never been more wrong.

“I’ll be back, lass,” I told her. “Not sure when, but I trust you’ll behave until I figure out exactly what to do with you.”

She arched a brow again. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

I let go of the bars, my first thought being that I needed a fucking drink.

Chapter 14

Keavy~

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the sound of the door opening hit my ears again, but instead of Declan or Noah appearing at the foot of the stairs, it was another man, and since he looked nothing like an O’Brien or Murphy, I took him to be one of Declan’s soldiers. Granted, I couldn’t be sure, but the man had dark brown hair, very light hazel eyes, and he looked like he had some Greek in him, though that was just a guess.

He also had a tray of food with him, and while I was starving, I didn’t trust what could be in it. Plus, I was still feeling a bit nauseated from whatever sedative that’d been given to me earlier, so I didn’t need to be weakened any further. I needed to be prepared for what I was about to do next, and so I needed all my wits about me.

“It’s time to eat.”

“No, thank you,” I replied politely.

His feet faltered for a second, but then he quickly regained his composure. “I’m under the impression that it’s not an option.”

My eyes narrowed a bit. “I seriously doubt that Mr. O’Brien cares whether I eat or not.”

“Look, he told me to bring you some food and to make sure that you eat,” he replied. “So, that’s what I’m going to do.”

I scanned the tray, and it had a paper plate with two sandwiches on it, a clear plastic cup of what looked like water, and a few crackers. The plastic cup and tray I could use, but the rest of it was useless. While I didn’t think that the tray could knock him out, no matter how hard I swung, shattered into the right pieces, I could stab him in the throat with the shards. I could do the same thing with the plastic cup. All I had to do was nick one artery for it to all be done, and plastic could also break jaggedly.

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